The year in cartoons 2002

Generally, the objective of reflecting on a year's worth of anything--films, music, cartoons, what have you--is to see how far we've come, and to imbue these things that are now in our past with some sort of reverence.

However, this year, it doesn't look like we're any further from where we started. We began this year with threats of attacking Iraq, and we end the year by inching still closer to a war with the Bush family's nemesis; the economy has been consistently in the toilet throughout the year; we still live in fear of terrorism and have been repeatedly let down by organizations that were supposed to protect us--CIA, FBI, airport security, the church--while our government terrorizes its own citizens with violations of our civil liberties.

Then there were some events that crept up, held our attention for weeks, and slunk away after the 24-hour news cycle ran them into the ground. Remember the child abductions? Martha Stewart's Imclone scandal? Campaign finance reform? Afghanistan? The snipers?

There's always a measure of comfort in being able to put some space between you and some of the more awful events of the past year. Take a look at 2002 in cartoon form to help you compartmentalize the good and the bad, laugh about it, and hopefully, having learned something from our experiences, we can begin affect change in the future.